The Day the Incredible Happened
by Ivory Tower
Summary: Ginny thinks back on the day she witnessed something very unusual: the day she saw Snape laugh. Kinda leaves ya with a warm feeling.


Title: The Day the Incredible Happened  
  
Author: Ivory Tower  
  
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all rights to Harry Potter characters and concepts.   
  
I rushed into the hall, horrified! I heard the other students calling for Madam Pomfrey and rushed in the opposite direction, not wanting to hear what the nurse's reaction would be when she saw what Dennis had done. My cheeks still burned at the memory of what I'd seen. Good Merlin! To be truthful, it had scared me. Then again, it was kind of funny, but oh how embarrassing! What had Dennis been thinking? Why-?  
  
"Ooof!"   
  
I collided into a wall and rubbed my cheek. That wall smelled funny, like medicine and oniony herbs.  
  
"Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Weasley. Watch where you are going," snapped the irritable Potion Master, frowning down at me.  
  
"Sorry," I stammered and hurried on by.   
  
Unfortunately, Snape called me back. That greasy bat and his suspicious mind!  
  
"Why are you in such a hurry, Miss Weasley? Have you...done something?" he demanded, glaring at me like he was trying to read my mind, which thoroughly freaked me out.  
  
"I haven't done anything!" I insisted truthfully.  
  
Snape raised an eyebrow.  
  
"You look rather guilty to me, Miss Weasley. Shall we go to the Headmaster to confirm my suspicion?"  
  
"But I didn't do anything! Dennis just-"  
  
I stopped. I couldn't tell Snape of all people. That would be-oh Merlin! That would be much too embarrassing! The very idea made my stomach turn, but Snape was far too interested by this point.  
  
"Yes, Miss Weasley?" prompted Snape in his cold, unfriendly tone.   
  
Oh merciful Merlin, I'd done it now! Why was this happening to me? Of all the professors to literally run into... Wringing my hands, I stumbled over an explanation.  
  
"He-well-he just-kind of-just messing around, I guess...and he-uh-oh...I-um-well-"  
  
Snape had entirely lost his patience; a dangerous thing, indeed.  
  
"Spit it out, Miss Weasely! What did Dennis do?" he demanded.  
  
"He used...oh!" There was no way out of the mess, so I covered my eyes with my hands and blurted out the rest. "Dennis used an engorgement charm on his penis and it got really out of hand and he couldn't stop it so Neville and Parvati went to get Madam Pomfrey and I was so scared I just ran! It was terrible, Professor! He came running into the Common Room screaming and..."  
  
I couldn't say anymore. Humiliation had completely strangled my vocal cords. Worse still, the sudden silence was deafening. This was the most mortifying experience of my life! I couldn't bring myself to look at Snape. Then, it hit me! Oh my goodness, I'd said the word "penis" to Professor Snape! I wished I had known more advanced magic so I could conjure a gigantic hole in the floor to swallow me up.  
  
Out of nowhere, a soft noise broke the painful quiet. It was an odd breathing sound that I soon recognized as...snickering? Confused, I lowered my hands and saw Professor Snape leaning against the wall, covering *his* eyes with *his* hand and chuckling in a low but genuine tone.  
  
By then, the frantic yells and shouts for order by Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey reverberated down the hall. Snape gave up all pretense of decency and roared with eerie laughter. It boomed through the corridor, hurting my eardrums. For my part, I was in awe. Never had I seen Professor Snape genuinely smile. At most, he smirked with unpleasant undertones in his face-something more unsettling than when he out and out glares at you, but this! Snape stood there literally holding his sides he was laughing so hard. I'll tell you, it actually took ten years off his grumpy face.  
  
"Is he going to be okay?" squeaked Lavender's high-pitched voice.  
  
Upon hearing this, Snape-and I swear to you this really happened-collapsed to the floor, helpless with, as he saw it, the hilarity of the situation. Eventually, he motioned for me to leave as he was unable to regain his composure. Of course, I was all-too-happy to oblige. Off I ambled in a daze.  
  
Well, that's the whole of it. I never told anyone what I saw. For one, no one would believe me. I mean, it's a common "fact" that Snape is void of a sense of humor just as he's rumored not to have a shadow and to have less than 1 percent human blood flowing through his veins. Aside from that, the more I pondered the incident (and I'd pondered it repeatedly) I finally decided it really wouldn't be proper for me to relate what I saw. I mean, imagine poor Dennis' reaction if he knew that Snape knew and had laughed at him. Oh, by the way, Dennis is perfectly fine and there was no permanent damage to-um-to anything. More importantly, I alone had witnessed true phenomena: a side of Snape that he seldom, if ever, showed to anyone.   
  
Don't get me wrong, Snape's still sarcastic and creepy as ever. Just the other day, he deducted ten points from Gryffindor because my notes were "messy". I still call him a greasy bat under my breath and allow myself a little grin when I find he's been passed over yet again for the DADA position. Still, I have more patience with the Potion Master than I used to. Somehow, his little jabs don't seem quite as harsh-almost as though he makes some, though certainly not all, of them out of mere habit than true malice. I don't know...I could be entirely wrong. I do know that, contrary to what the rest of the students believe, Snape does have a human side; albeit a very small one. Sometimes during class or even in the Great Hall, I'll glance over at Snape's scowling, black robed presence and find myself not nearly as intimidated by a man who made my ears ring with his rare laugher.  
  
~FIN~ 


End file.
